Writer: David Michelinie Art: Walt Simonson & Tom Palmer Shira Brie is the name of a Rebel pilot and potential love interest for Luke who ends up being a deep undercover Imperial spy personally trained by Vader. This run of issues is the most complex and detailed story every produced in Star Wars comics anywhere. The basics are that while on a covert mission using stolen TIE fighters, Luke accidentally shoots down Shira, turning him into a pariah amongst his fellow Rebels. Acting alone, he seeks out to uncover Shiras past and in the process discovers she was an Imperial agent who had been sent to kill him. What really works here is the pacing of the plot set against the entire 9 issue run. Its a slow build and it pays off in aces as a result. During the course of the story, the Rebels locate and set up their first permanent base since Yavin, and make an ally in the local intelligent species called the Hoojibs. Lando returns to Cloud City and finds things have fallen into complete disarray in his absence. Leia has to hide the entire Rebel fleet inside the corona of a star. We see the unfolding of the Rebels plan as they obtain a squadron of stolen TIE fighters. All of these elements drive their individual issues. But throughout it all is Shira Brie, a character we start to like and get comfortable with so that when Luke kills her were heartbroken. And then when her true nature is revealed, were shocked. Michelinie was given the time to create this tightly woven tale jam packed with action and intrigue and the series was better for it. And the best part of it perhaps? It was revealed at the end that Shira was not dead. It took over two years, but when she returned as the dark lady Lumiya, we knew we had been witness to the evolution of one of the greatest Star Wars villains of all time.
I've been a huge sci-fi fan ever since going to see "Star Wars" at the tender age of 3 (and yes I actually do remember it! I love pretty much any intelligent and entertaining film and television series (some of my all time favorites are 2001, Lawrence of Arabia, Battlestar Galactica [SyFy], and The West Wing). Must thank the stars above for such things as HBOGO and Netflix (Am thoroughly enjoying Ripper Street btw). I've also been an avid comic book collector since childhood. I earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing with a second emphasis in film studies from Florida State University (Go Noles!) and definitely enjoy sitting back and watching pretty much any sports. I wish I had a joke to end with, but I don't so I'll simply say "The End."
